Meaning of Namaste

Meaning of Namaste

Why do we fold hands while saying
"Namasté"!

The meaning of Namaste has a beautiful and powerful psycho-spiritual origin. “Namaste” is India’s most well known export to the western civilization. Namaste is a spiritual greeting of respect when you meet any spiritual teacher, fellow student or when greeting someone you honor. One translation is that it means, “I bow down to the divinity within you”.When you honor the divine within another person at the same time you are honoring it within yourself. Namaste expresses the very essence of respect for all of the Presence of God within all of us. In truth, each of us is part of one big family.

We come from the same source of life and return once we pass away from the physical body. Namaste helps to remind us of our common heritage while bringing to life the important need for respecting each other.The other important feature of reciting Namaste when you greet someone is the holding of the hands together over the heart as though in the jesture of praying.

This brings together the two positive and negative polarity energy fields in the body balancing them over the heart. The heart is the strongest source of electrical energy in the physical-etheric body. By balancing your energy there is a union of masculine and feminine polarity in the entire auric field of energy.The psycho-spiritual aspect is engaged because as you bring your hands together at your heart center, literally connecting the right and left hemispheres of the brain. This is a yogic process of unification, the yoking of our active and receptive natures.

Thus, you are connecting the heart centers and heart centers in one loop of energy.Try this on your family and spiritual friends when you see them. It creates a mood of peace, serentiy and respect which is far greater than a hand shake or simple hello.In India when we meet somebody, we join hands for namaste, sort of diffusing ourselves before the meeting. during the meeting, our mood may elevate, aggravate and when we see the same person off again we join hands to bid goodbye, sort of diffusing ourselves after the meeting.- Christopher Lee May

Sadly, the practice of namaste has become less commonly used and is being replaced by the western greeting of just saying “hello”.

A Yogic/scientific reason of why we fold our hands when praying.

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 What is the universal language of Namaste?

“I honour the place in your where the entire universe resides… a place of light, of love, of truth, of peace, of wisdom. I honour the place in you where when you are in that place and I am in that place there is only one of us.”

-Mahatma Gandhi

Hinduism is known for its elaborate set of practices. Let us start with the basic practice of the Namaste and what it signifies.

Namaste is a simple gesture. One has to fold their hands in front of their heart and bow their head and the action is complete. The meaning behind it, however, is deeply significant. The word Namaste has its roots in Sanskrit, which roughly translates to ‘I bow to you’. When we fold our hands and bow in front of the other person, we are basically humbling ourselves in front of them, and extending an invitation for friendship.

Hinduism is a way of life that believes in the concept of divinity in everyone. When we greet someone with a namaste, we are bowing down to that person’s soul and we remind ourselves that everyone is equal; everyone has a soul and everything is interrelated.

In Hinduism, it is believed that the 5 fingers of the left hand signify the five senses of karma and the 5 fingers of the right hand signify the five organs of knowledge. When we fold our hands together, we unify these elements, thus signifying that our karmic actions must be done by using our organs of knowledge and we must act correctly.

The simple act of Namaste can also be associated with duality. It can symbolize the union of man and woman, heaven and earth, pleasure and pain and basically every dual element that exists in this universe.

While the most common form of greeting someone with a Namaste is by folding our hands in front of our hearts, one can also fold their hands in front of their forehead (in between the eyebrows, where the third chakra is situated) and then bring it down to their hearts, thus symbolizing even deeper respect for the other person.

To greet someone with a Namaste is one of the highest forms of respect that one can offer. The act of humbling ourselves in front of the other person destroys the ego of the other person as well and communicates that we are all equal. It brings them to a common ground, eliminating all other factors that society considers superior or inferior. It recognizes the higher power in each person and communicates more on a spiritual level that goes beyond basic human understanding. It is universally unique.